Five Tips for Styling Your Home

Once your home is built, it's time to style it! Styling can be an expensive exercise and with so many interior decor options available these days, it can be difficult to know where to start, and how to stick to a budget. 

We've got 5 top tips for when it comes to styling your new home.  

Mood boards - always

Creating a mood board for your home and its various rooms is a great place to start when it comes to styling your new home. It's the perfect way to see how different pieces, colours and textures combine and it's a  great visualisation tool if you are tossing up between a range of items. 

Settle in before styling

We understand that you might want everything perfectly styled and finessed as soon as you move into your new home but we highly recommend living in it for some time before purchasing all of your styling elements. Why? After spending time in your home, you will have a better feel for how you use each of the different spaces. This means you can gradually purchase items and add things that you are missing over time. This approach is also good for the wallet as you can spread the costs of styling over a period of time as opposed to adding to existing upfront costs at the time of moving. 

Check sizes and measure everything

We cannot stress the importance of checking the size of your furniture and either mapping it out with masking tape on the floor (if you have site access during the build) or drawing it to scale on your floor plans. We also recommend planning out how all of your furniture will fit together in a space - whether you are using the furniture you already own or if purchasing new is within your budget. If you have a double-storey home, it's important to keep in mind that you will need to transport items up the staircase and depending on the design of your home, this may pose some limitations when it comes to selecting pieces for your home. 

Visit bricks and mortar

We recommend visiting physical stores to view items in person as much as possible - especially for big-ticket items such as couches, beds and tables. While online shopping is incredibly convenient and often provides a larger product offering, you can never get a true sense of colour, texture and finish. Going bricks and mortar may not always be an option but where possible, it is a great idea. And if you're lucky, you might be able to get discounts in-store when speaking with a salesperson (store dependent, of course). 

The power of the flower

While we adore fresh flowers, unfortunately, their life span is relatively short and that is why we absolutely love dried flowers. They are the perfect way to add texture, colour and warmth and with their rise in popularity recently, there are so many styles to choose from and suppliers to buy from. Artificial flowers are another great alternative to fresh flowers with stores like Kmart, Idea and Freedom providing lots of options at different price points. Indoor plants are another great choice if you are wanting to add a bit of greenery and something extra to a space. 

Today, we live in a world where styling options for your home are endless and while this can be overwhelming, it generally means you have more choices when considering your budget. Affordable stores like Kmart and Ikea now have a greater product offering that mimics the trending styles that their more expensive competitors sell. We recommend shopping around to consider your options and make a conscious decision on the pieces you are willing to invest in and then offset this with more cost-effective options of other pieces.

Looking for inspiration for your new home? Check out our room-by-room breakdown of our beautiful Brookhaven Display pictured throughout this blog, as well as our Portfolio of Homes and Gallery of DC Living homes that we have built.